Penn Sailing Earns 5th Place Honors at ODU Spring Open

The Penn Sailing Team started off its Spring 2012 season by traveling south to Old Dominion University in Norfolk Virginia. It was also the first event of the season for many of the other teams in attendance. Skippering A Division was Junior captain Mike Russom, while freshman Jack Swikart skippered B Division. Juniors Fred Wang and Jose-Maria Barreros each crewed part of the regatta in both divisions.

Saturday brought heavy rain and strong winds in the morning, but by the time the boats hit the water, the wind had died down to around 15 knots and the rain had slowed to a drizzle. Six races were completed in each division before the wind died completely and racing was called for the day, leaving the team sitting in 7th place.

The team also woke to heavy rain on Sunday, but with much less wind. Over the course of the day, the breeze varied between 0 and 5 knots, allowing the race committee to get 4 more races off in each division. While Jack Swikart held the line in B Division, Mike Russom managed to shake off the rust, finishing his A Division series with two bullets and propelling the team to an overall 5th place finish. Navy took the win, followed by St. Mary’s and Old Dominion.

A special thanks to the Landy family, who graciously hosted the team for the weekend.

Complete scores can be found at http://scores.collegesailing.info/s12/odu-spring-open/full-scores